Dr. Kawam has her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in social work. Her main area of work has concerned on children, youth, and families in the areas of poverty, violence, substance use, abuse and child welfare. Motivated by her experiences working in child welfare, she found a passion parenting, motherhood, trauma and PTSD. She also has extensive experience in mezzo and macro aspects of social work including community organization, policy, advocacy, grant writing, teaching and research.

The reason whyDr.  Kawam chose social work was because she wanted, in Gandhi’s words, to “be the change.” She grew up in New York and New Jersey and saw immense amounts of poverty, strife, and struggle. It was at a very young age that her parents instilled the values of serving others and in human compassion. Those concepts have fueled both her personal and professional lives for the past several decades. Kawam believes in the goodness of people, the strength of families, the power of communities and the extreme importance of culture in making changes that improve life for us all. As social workers, it is the ultimate privilege to be able to work side-by-side and hand-in-hand with others to create brighter tomorrows.

In her free time, Dr. Kawam enjoys reading, writing, hiking, doing yoga and spending time with her family. She is a trauma informed 500 RYT and an avid lover of books. Self-care and time for rest is incredibly important to her, so that she can ‘pound the pavement’ and be a true changemakers in the world.

If you have questions about Dr. Kawam, her classes or her work feel free to reach out directly: elisa.kawam@asu.edu